The Chief Minister inspected the new Alice Springs Police Station, the Forensic and Dog Unit facility, rode in a watch commander patrol and visited the Todd Mall hotspot where segway Police are operating.

With a particular focus on domestic and family violence, Chief Minister Gunner met with the Cross-border Domestic Violence Team and the Family Safety Framework team to discuss their ongoing work in domestic and family violence in Alice Springs.

“Police, Fire and Emergency Services staff here in Central Australia do a superb job protecting the community, under extremely difficult circumstances. It was a pleasure to meet many of them today.” Chief Minister Gunner said.

The Chief Minister also announced today that reforms will be made to support evidence gathered from body-worn camera technology being tendered in court as evidence-in-chief in prosecutions.

These changes will help bring the Territory into line with recent reforms in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW).

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles has asked Department of Attorney General’s to begin the process reforming the legislation.

This change fulfils a recommendation from the Coroner’s recent findings into the deaths of two women in Alice Springs which states:

“I recommend that Police continue to pursue the use of body worn cameras and a change to the legislation so as to allow those matters captured on camera to be used as evidence-in-chief.”

The reform will reduce the need for victims to appear in court, resulting in a safer court process for domestic violence victims, and assist Police in prosecuting offenders.

“This reform is about protecting victims and ensuring Police and the courts have all the tools they need to hold offenders to account.” Chief Minister Gunner said.

“The safer victims feel in the trial process, the more likely they are to report domestic abuse, which is a key step in reducing rates of violence.”

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner

The Red Centre

Alice Springs and Ayers Rock at Uluru and surrounding areas are known as The Red Centre due to unique and amazing, vast tracts of red coloured soil.